Free sim
3D Windsock
The windsock is the one instrument every airport gives you for free — if you know how to read it. It points downwind, away from where the wind is coming from, and its shape is the speed gauge. Set the wind, fire a gust, and watch the fabric inflate, sag, swivel, and flutter in response.
Wind 12 knots from 270 degrees, the west. The sock reads flying. Gusts to 24 knots, where it reads fully extended.
The sock points downwind — away from where the wind is from — and its shape is the speed gauge: hanging limp near calm, filling through the single digits, and fully extended and rigid from about 15 knots — the wind an FAA-specification sock is built to extend fully in (AC 150/5345-27F § 3.2.2; source below).
Source. FAA Advisory Circular 150/5345-27F, FAA Specification for Wind Cone Assemblies (AC 150/5345-27F, 15 December 2021), § 3.2.2, p. 3-1 — the sock is designed to fully extend at 15 knots; § 3.5, p. 3-3 — it must swing freely from 3 knots and show direction within ±5°. Retrieved from faa.gov 2026-09-08 and frozen in this site’s repository, where a test checks every quoted phrase against that copy. That is a design requirement for FAA-specification socks; a sock that does not meet it may read differently. The sock's shape at each speed in this sim is a visual model tuned to look right, not a calibration.
Now put it over an airport
The same sock stands midfield in the Traffic Pattern sim — where it tells you which runway to want — and next to the maneuver field in Ground Reference Maneuvers.
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Next step
- Put the sock over an airport (traffic pattern sim)
- Turn the wind into a crosswind number (sim)
- Ground reference maneuvers with the same wind (sim)
- Find your weak areas — the free 24-question Readiness Test, scored by knowledge area.
- Create a free account for the full bank: 2,074 verified questions with the FAA source on every answer, a timed practice exam, and a missed-questions drill.
The Private Pilot Quick-Review Study Guide covers this in chapter 5 (airport operations). It is in CFI review and not on sale yet; the guide page has the list for launch notes.